Friends of the Earth is "appalled" by latest climate pollution figures from EPA

27 Nov 2017

They make for grim reading - with emissions up across the board and a 3.5% total increase year-on-year.

Speaking at the EPA event to publich the figures, Dr. Cara Augustenborg, Head of Science and Communications for Friends of the Earth, commented:

"We are appalled by today's EPA figures for Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions in 2016. Our climate pollution is rising at around 3.5% a year when the Government's own target means they should be coming down by 5% a year.

"Of the handful of EU countries who are going to miss their 2020 climate targets, Ireland is the only Member State whose emissions are still rising.

"Even more of a concern is that our emissions have increased in almost every sector, including transport, agriculture, and energy - demonstrating a systemic problem in how our country functions.

"Even within the energy sector, our use of renewable sources has declined and our emissions have increased due to a prioritization of gas over renewable sources between 2015-2016.

"These figures confirm the complete lack of political leadership on climate change from this Government. The Citizens' Assembly recently recommended a series of practical and positive measures we could take to cut pollution and improve our quality of life. Leo Varadkar and Denis Naughten should now commit to rewriting the Government's climate action plan based on the Citizens' Assembly recommendations."

Irish emissions are much the same as they were when we signed the Kytoto Protocol 20 years ago. And they are still higher than they were in 1990, the baseline for the Governments' 80% reduction target for 2050.